[Music] this is house plant history a podcast about plants for our first episode I'm going to take us through the Victorian Fern fever that swept through Victorian society and changed the world forever so for the love of ferns let's go back in time to 19th century England the Victorian era which spanned queen of Victoria's 63-year reign from 1837 to 1901 is remembered as a period of Rapid transformation for the British Empire it was marked by global Imperial expansion in the first Industrial Revolution the invention of the telephone and Darwin's On the Origin of Species it was a time filled with appreciation for the Arts and for Science and this was perhaps most embodied by the first gray exhibition in London the exhibition held in 1851 inside a building called The Crystal Palace was created to showcase the wonders of the first and second industrial revolutions it featured the inventions and findings of 14 000 exhibitors along eight miles of tables the Crystal Palace itself lived up to its name the massive structure 1848 feet long was made of plate glass suspended by a skeleton of cast iron columns architect and Gardener Joseph Paxton was inspired by greenhouses and the Crystal Palace was essentially a 990 000 square foot Greenhouse and while tens of thousands of visitors walked through its light-filled Halls perusing the largest telescopes and diamonds at the time many visitors flocked to a small corner of the exhibition Hall mesmerized by a relatively inconspicuous Contraption one that interestingly mirrored the architecture surrounding them inside the growing circle of the transfixed audience was a miniature Greenhouse but we would recognize today as a terrarium the man who owned the stall called it awardian case and claimed that the plant inside of it hadn't been watered for 18 years at the time of the exhibition the wardian case was already becoming popular in England and abroad it had been discovered decades earlier in 1829 by Dr Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward as a way to safely ship plants from Australia to England Ward was a medical doctor who practiced botany in his spare time and collected plants to bring back to England on his travels his invention changed the commercial plant industry for the first time commercially important plants could be transported great distances as full-size specimens no longer only as seeds or rhizomes and soon the utility of the wardian case evolved beyond that of private plant collectors in 1848 Robert Fortune stole tea plants from China and transported them to India and wardian cases on behalf of the British East India Company but back in England wardian cases were quickly becoming fashionable statement pieces for the home and one plant in particular was in Vogue that plant was the subject of the very popular 1840 book by Edward Newman a history of British ferns hundreds of other books about ferns would be published in the years to come and just like that the Victorian Fern craze Fern fever or Fern Madness quickly swept across Victorian England Fern collectors would often use wardian cases for the more delicate or rare varieties a refuge from the coal smoke and sulfuric acid in London's polluted air Ward himself used them for this purpose when he found that the poor air quality was killing his plants house plant enthusiasts know that ferns are not a low maintenance house plant choice this was a stark contrast to the hearty apodistralarita another popular Victorian houseplant the fern was something different aspedestria Larita was strictly a houseplant of the middle class considered a symbol of dull middle class respectability and ferns Drew enthusiasts from every social class and age group and for those who couldn't afford expensive wardian cases they were not immune to the Allure of ferns there were Fern Gardens known as ferneries and greenhouses for ferns known as Fern houses and while some bought their ferns from nurseries the increase in Fern identification books at the time led to another outlet for Fern enthusiasts Fern hunting less action than traditional hunting but hunting nonetheless for an Enthusiast would join Fern hunting societies and travel to the countryside in groups seeking out and collecting ferns to bring home for many Victorian women Fern hunting parties were a rare opportunity to leave the home and get outside the hunting parties were often also co-ed providing another rare opportunity to fraternize with the opposite sex without a chaperone under the guise of some good natured nature time and as more Victorian women took an interest in ferns the practice of fern collecting became less respectable than it was before the craze per usual soon it was associated with hysteria women were reported to Swoon or faint at the site of ferns In 1855 Charles Kingsley coined the word potato Mania to describe the growing phenomenon Charles Dickens a fern Enthusiast himself hoped ferns would cure his daughter of her apathy he wrote to a friend in 1862 about his daughter Mary after careful cross-examining my daughter I do not believe her to be worthy of the fernery fortunately for Dickens 1862 marked a shift in the fern collection World Mary wouldn't need to take care of her ferns to have them around the 1862 International exhibition in London like its predecessor had many vivariums on display it also had a Contraption for printing Fern motifs the foliographic Press described by the 1862 International exhibition Illustrated catalog of the industrial Department as a new and exceedingly simple machine for printing from fresh leaves ferns grasses feathers or lace the apparatus is not only useful to botanists but affords an interesting employment to the ladies and is of so simple construction that children may use it as an amusing and instructive toy from 1862 onward the majority of British Ceramics companies produced Fern designs ferns graced everything from teapots to chamber pots from christening presents to tombstones in fact it's an easy way to identify objects from this era but many of these printed designs used live Ferns and even as early as the 1840s and 50s ferns in the wild were becoming more and more scarce by the 1860s many of England's native ferns were at risk of becoming endangered due to over collecting in 1865 British author Nona belaires wrote the poor ferns like the wolves in olden times have a price set upon their heads and they in like manner will soon altogether disappear we must have Fern laws and preserve them like game though the fern Cruise began to die down by the 1890s Decades of collecting wreaked havoc on the fern populations of England and surrounding countries in fact it was mirroring another plant craze the Georgian Victorian Orchid craze before it in the legacy of the fern craze is still visible when looking at the biodiversity of England's Fern species many of which have never fully recovered the Killarney Fern for example is endangered in England and was until recently believed to be extinct in Scotland due to these Victorian collectors when we talk about the Victorian Fern craze today we typically make it out to be just another strange fad and Victorian culture but really we can learn a lot from this period of houseplant history from the early voices for conservation to the fern Hunters themselves over collection has led to decline of many plant species in the wild both before and after the Victorian era it's just one of the many ways we can hurt native plant populations as humans the wardian case changed the ability for humans to move plants from one place to another it led to the introduction of invasive species plants and pests it aided imperialistic expansion and Colonial Endeavors it also built economies and carried plants that continue to feed people today and if we can take anything from the Victorian Fern craze maybe it's at the walls that separate our homes and greenhouses from the environment outside are pretty thin and perhaps that little Fern growing behind your house is happy just where it is